Relief
A relief mathematically is the act of making art by subtraction. You remove material in a traditional relief. They were done in stone like limestone and used as decorative motifs on architecture. Think greek or Roman.
Another kind of relief like we are doing is not subtractive but uses addition, or adding pieces to a substrate or backing.
A relief does not stand alone. It uses a backing and the viewer looks into the piece.
The term relief comes from latin "levo" which means to raise.
the full score of relief might begin with the Bas relief m or low relief, mid relief and high relief .

Bas relief might be a coin
High relief came about as more grander was needed. Roman used High Relief. This is where the focal point seems to rise away from any back ground. The technique involved in high relief made it apart of a technological revolution of sorts. The cultures that used High relief also built monumental sculpture.
most Greek sculpture was a version of high relief because they had not figured away to make free standing sclpture.

The Egyptians used a type of relief referred to as sunken relief. Their technology had not progressed much further than carving wood so stone became harder wood. They carved away material, a truly subtractive method.

Relief A bit os a QUIZ
a) What is a relief?
b) What is the difference between a relief and a sculpture?
c) Tell me what the process is for doing a relief.
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d) Where does the term relief originate?
e) There are three kinds of relief. Please name them.
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f) The Egyptians did a style of relief similar to low relief. What is it actually called?
g) What does funerary mean?
h) which culture was the first to make and complete a free standing sculpture?